Just A Dream
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Seeing Hanna happy should make him glad. But not when she was happy with someone else. OneShot.


_Okay guys, so I highly doubt that no-one knows this song! _Just A Dream _by Nelly. Absolutely gorgeous song, despite being played waaaay too much on the radio. Was listening to it the other day while I was writing _Leather and Silk _and I wanted to put this together. So this is kinda just a bit of a twist on the way things went when Caleb returned to Rosewood, obviously AU. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the song._

_I was thinking about you  
>Thinking 'bout me<br>Thinking 'bout us  
>What we gonna be?<br>Open my eyes  
>It was only just a dream<em>

_So I travel  
>Down that road<br>Will she come back?  
>No one knows<br>I realize  
>It was only just a dream<em>

Walking away from Hanna Marin had been the hardest thing that Caleb Rivers thought he was ever going to have to do.

He was wrong.

Coming back to Rosewood and seeing her with Travis Hobbs was.

Seeing her _happy_ with Travis was.

She had been as cut up as he was when he had left. He knew Hanna inside out and he had seen the searing pain in her eyes when they had said their final goodbye. And right now, he should be happy. Or at least relieved. Glad that she hadn't just moped around and had actually found someone to move on with, and that she had chosen a nice guy and not reverted to some douche like Noel Kahn.

But maybe the fact that Travis was a nice guy just made it worse.

He had thought about telling her that he was back by texting her, calling her, maybe popping around to her house. He couldn't decide the best way to inform her. And while he was walking around Rosewood, keeping a reasonably low profile while staying in Toby's cabin, he saw Travis and Hanna. They were walking down the street, not doing any showy, but then he leaned forward and kissed her on the corner of the mouth and put his hand on her lower back. It was a simple gesture, but it made Caleb's stomach turned over.

So he had decided not to call her, and not to give her a heads up. She saw him a week later when she was walking home from school and he was coming out of the hardware store, where he was picking up some things for the cabin. Hanna stopped dead in her tracks, her gorgeous blue eyes flashing wide.

"Caleb?" She asked. "What are you—when did you get back?"

"Uh, maybe a week or so ago?" Caleb rubbed the back of his neck, knowing that there was going to be hell to pay for not notifying her earlier. Her eyes flashed in surprise and her mouth flattened into a thin line but she surprisingly didn't say anything, just nodded tightly.

"And how are you?" She continued, her voice thin.

"I'm doing...Fine," Caleb replied, trying to look for a word that described how he was feeling without lying to the blonde. She always knew when he was lying, and with the way her perfectly shaped eyebrow raised and her plump lips parted slightly, Caleb could guess she knew he was lying. She didn't call him on it though, as she shifted from foot to foot in her expensive blue wedges. "What about you?"

"Fine," Hanna answered, looking down at the delicate, white gold watch on her wrist. "I'm meeting...Spencer. It was good to see you, Caleb." She looked like there was more that she wanted to say but she just smiled tightly before walking past him. He watched her go, and this time he knew that she was lying. Her movements were jerky, and she looked back over her shoulder once before walking across the road to the small cafe. Travis came outside to meet her with a smile, and she quickly pushed him back inside, undoubtedly to keep him out of sight of her ex-boyfriend. Caleb dropped his eyes and sucked in a deep breath through his nose.

Fuck, it hurt.

* * *

><p>The job on the building site was good, it was steady work and he enjoyed it. It also meant that his body and mind were tired by the time night rolled around, and it didn't allow much time for him to think about Hanna. But sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night, the feel of her curled up next to him and her scent in his nose so real that he physically ached due to her absence.<p>

"Caleb!" Came a chirp from behind him. He turned around and saw Aria Montgomery smiling at him. "Hanna said you were back!" She rounded the corner and gave him a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're back again."

"Thanks," Caleb managed a smile at the petite girl. If she had heard from Hanna that was good, that meant that Toby had either managed to keep a secret, or had only told Spencer Hastings, who had then managed to keep it from the girls. Which was how he had wanted it. "Uh, how is she? She didn't really tell me much." Aria pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side, her raven locks tumbling forward.

"She's good," she finally answered. She smiled, a little sadly, but it reached her eyes and that comforted him. "It was hard, you know, at first. But she got there." Then she didn't offer any more information, and Caleb guessed she wasn't going to venture into Travis conversation. He nodded and looked over her head to where a blonde had entered the store. He felt the sudden lift in his mood disappear when he realized that it wasn't Hanna.

"I never wanted to hurt her," he blurted out and Aria's eyes widened. "I love Hanna, hurting her was the last thing that I ever wanted to do that. She has to understand that."

"I think...I think that's something you have to tell Hanna," Aria said carefully. "Not me."

"I don't think she wants to talk to me," Caleb sighed. "Looks as though she's moved on."

"That's something you have to talk to her about," Aria's voice was gentle but firm. She clearly wasn't going to speculate on her friends relationship and Caleb felt a rush of guilt at putting her in that position.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure," Caleb looked up at the clock on the wall and saw he was already late back from his break. "Shit, I gotta go. But it was good seeing you, Aria."

"You too, Caleb," she smiled and reached up to kiss him on the cheek. "And talk to Hanna," she repeated as he backed away.

"I will," Caleb replied as he reached the counter. Talk to Hanna, he thought to himself. And say what, exactly? That he was sorry for leaving her without so much as an explanation? That he wanted things to go back to how they were the same as before he left? If they could forget the past couple of months had ever happened because it wasn't just that he wanted but he needed her in his life? He needed her clothing critiques, and the pedantic way she painted her nails, and that jasmine and moringa scent she always wore. That he needed to see her long blonde hair against the blue material of his pillows, and her pale body stretched out next to his. And that he couldn't imagine living only ten minutes down the road from her and not be able to sneak into her house whenever he could, gather her in his arm and invade that sweet warmth of her mouth with his tongue.

Hanna had loved him—maybe she still did.

But she had pride, and dignity, and he had hurt her, even if that had been his last intention.

It would take more than a couple words from him to get her back.

* * *

><p>Now that it wasn't a secret him being back in town, Toby had invited him to a party that they were all attending on the Saturday night. Caleb had been hesitant at first, not sure if he could handle seeing Hanna and Travis together. He knew exactly how his girl got when she had had a couple of drinks, and he couldn't stomach seeing her all giggly and handsy with another guy. But Toby had said that Travis pulled night shifts quite often over the weekend and that he wasn't actually able to come. He had even offered to come out and pick Caleb up.<p>

The music was thudding as he walked into the house, and there were drunk people everywhere. Clearly people had started drinking early given the glazed look in their eyes, and it didn't take him long to find his curvy blonde leaning against the back wall, laughing with Aria and Emily Fields.

"Caleb," Hanna's smile faltered.

"Hanna," he nodded at her, taking a long drink from his rum and coke. Aria and Emily shot him smiles before quickly dissolving into the crowd. Hanna glanced after them before looking back at him.

"How did you know about the party?" She asked as he leaned against the wall beside her.

"Toby invited me," he replied. Hanna pursed her red lips and nodded. They were silent for a long time, maybe twenty minutes, watching people dancing and drinking their way through several bottles. Caleb could tell she was drunk because she was starting to sway from side to side and sing to the music. Suddenly she pushed herself off the wall, leaning forward and wrapping a hand around his wrist, pulling him forward. Caleb dropped his drink on the ground, kicking it to the side as he followed Hanna into the crowd of people. She hesitated, staring up at him with her big blue eyes, before she slung her arms around his neck and pulled him close. The tempo of the music was fast, and she twisted her body to it, her hips rubbing up against his, her breasts crushed against his chest.

He wasn't sure how long they danced, but it was well into the night.

She smiled, and she laughed, and at one point she rubbed her nose against the crook of his neck. If he wasn't drunk on alcohol, just being close to her would have him intoxicated.

Spencer interrupted them at one point, sending Caleb a tight smile and whispering something in Hanna's ear. Then she had left with Toby. Emily had come in an hour or so later, a blonde following her, and had said that they were leaving. Aria was still in the corner, her legs around the waist of some tall guy when Hanna announced that her ride was there. She looked sad, but she kissed him on the cheek and walked away determinedly.

Caleb watched out the window and saw her drive away with Travis.

That night, he barely slept at all. He was haunted with her smell, her feel—that gorgeous soft body grinding on his. He had memorized every curve, every line of her body when they had been together. He knew that if he had touched the lower side of the cheeks of her ass she would have been putty in his hands, she was an ass girl, she was a sucker for someone who touched her right.

He wondered if Travis touched her right.

Caleb finished off a bottle of a bourbon, his hand buried in his pants at the thought of Hanna. His mind took him to her room, looking over her bed as she slept naked. He had been with her long enough to know the way she always slept on the side, her hair a mess behind her and down her back. Her breasts would rise and fall softly as she breathed, and her legs would be hitched up, her perfect ass sticking out. His body would always fit so well behind her, and sometimes he would make in the middle of the night with her supple ass grinding against his cock. He would enter her from behind, their bodies writhing together as his hand would wrap around her waist, pinch her clit and then her nipples. He had committed every single one of her moans to memory and Caleb gasped and jerked as he came in his hand at his thoughts of her.

* * *

><p>Almost a month passed and Caleb didn't see Hanna. At least he didn't see her in person. He saw her every night in his sleep but that hardly counted when he lived in the same town as her. Either she was really, really busy or she was doing a good job at avoiding him. He finally sent her a text, giving her the address of where he was staying and asking her to come over Sunday morning for breakfast at ten.<p>

He heard a crunch of tyres at quarter past eleven.

"How many times did you talk yourself out of coming?" Caleb asked as he opened the door.

"Four, but it clearly didn't work given I'm here," Hanna replied as she walked into the house. They were almost silent throughout breakfast, grilled banana and bacon on toast. Finally, she pushed the plate away and looked over at him. "Why did you ask me here, Caleb?" He took in a deep breath and looked up at her from under those thick eyelashes Hanna loved.

"I wanted to talk about us, Han," he began. Hanna quickly shook her head.

"No, Caleb, no, I can't—"

"Han, I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry I left!" Caleb rushed on. "If there was any way that I could take back what happened over these past few months, I would—"

"But you can't, Caleb," Hanna stood up abruptly. "You can't. You left me here." She ran a hand through her hair and started walking away from the table toward the door. Caleb hurried over to her, trying to catch her waist. "No, Caleb, I can't...I can't do this right now."

"Hanna, I love you," he knew he sounded desperate, but he didn't care. He needed her to understand just how badly he needed her in his life.

"I love you too," she sounded sincere, and the way her eyes held his made him realize she was being completely honest. "But what we did at that party? Dancing with you? I shouldn't have done that. I was drunk, and that's no proper excuse, but I can't do that around you. I'm with Travis. He's a good person. And if he had seen me that night, or if any of my friends had told him the way I had acted, he would be really hurt. And I can't do that."

"What about us, Hanna?" Caleb asked, searching her face.

"Maybe there can be an 'us' again," Hanna conceded. "But it's not going to be now, and it's not going to be an the expense of Travis."

"Hanna," he whispered. Hanna's eyes were clouded with tears, but her expression was firm. He reached up a hand, sliding it over her jaw and around her head, holding her head in place. Then he kissed her, softly, sweetly. Hanna made a little gasping noise at the back of her throat before pulling away.

"Goodbye, Caleb," she murmured, whirling around and practically running back to her car.

Caleb wasn't sure if things were ever going to go back to the way they were, if he was ever going to have Hanna again. She visited him every single night, and at least several times a week he had to relieve himself to the thought of her with his hand around his cock. But when he saw her, she seemed happy, and as much as he wanted her, if she was happy without him, it was something that he would have to accept. At least until she decided she could trust him again and that he wasn't going anywhere.

Until then, they were fated for each other, and they both knew it, at least in his dreams.

_A little angsty, this one. Let me know what you think._


End file.
